differentiate the different skills needed to effectively facilitate an online course.
Topics that will be explored in this portion
Provide a clear description of theories of distance learning.
Provide examples of how the different theories apply to different scenarios.
Provide a clear description of the theories of engagement.
Provide several examples of the application of each theory.
Distance Learning Theory
For 175 years the idea of learning away from a traditional school building has driven people to change the way they think and talk about learning. Traditional learning theory states fall into 4 categories; behavioralism, cognitivism, constructivism, transformative learning. There are other categories, but these are traditionally the most popular. While these theories can work with distance learners, distance learning presents a different set of challenges not present in traditional schools.
The New London Group (2000) created the following model for the new literacies of online learning.
Distance education is not just throwing an educator on a computer or video screen to teach the same content they would teach in front of a classroom. Distance learning, and more importantly online learning, is a new avenue for learning that is multimodal. Distance and online learning loses one critical piece of learning and that is the social aspect of learning. This is combated in online courses through the use of social media like tools (communities and forums) and in some cases digital group meet-ups using webcams and phone conferences
In their text E-learning Theory and Practice, Haythornthwaite and Andrews (2011) tasks facilitators to move beyond the literacies of learning (commonly used to talk about reading and writing) to the concept of discourse. Haythornthwaite and Andrews (2011) defines the term discourse as "useful because it refers to a wider range of communicative codes or modes, including not only speech, listening, reading and writing, but also icons, still and moving images, gesture, movement, etc." When creating this course, we looked at the different modes of learning that are present in well designed online learning classrooms.
The following video provides some resources that you, as a future distance educator, can use when developing your classes. It address both the best practices of online learning as well as giving you insight to some of the tools you can use to create your learning environment beyond the learning management system within your school. The video is long but well worth looking at.
Engagement
The purpose of this video is to help you learn from facilitators who have been in your shoes. They were once new to online education and they have embraced the skills needed to make their faciliation good for everyone. After watching the video respond to the questions in the page discussion.
Faculty Focus (2013), an online magazine for educators, has identified six traits that Online educators should adopt in creating an engaging online classroom:
Get to know your students. Make posting a detailed student introduction mandatory, and then personally respond to each student. Learn to recognize key words or phrases that indicate a disability, hardship, or potential problem. Start out by creating a comfortable, safe learning environment. Avoid intimidating the students from the outset of the class. In other words, lose the harshness and negative instructions. Lay out the ground rules, but do so in a manner that does not cause many students to cringe at the thought of needing to contact you.
Know the classroom mechanics of an online course. Student frustrations rise when they have difficulty navigating the course and the instructor cannot answer simple questions regarding the processes required to respond or submit an assignment.
Be accessible and respond to student inquiries in a timely manner. Have an established and well-publicized timeframe for responding to student inquiries. At many schools, it’s 24 hours during the week and 48 hours on weekends. Make it easy for students to locate your email address and telephone number within the learning management system (LMS). Oftentimes a five-minute call can alleviate a multitude of student frustrations and fears, and is actually a lot quicker than a back-and-forth email discussion.
Go beyond the university requirement of posting a brief, weekly announcement. Check up on your students. Know which students are falling behind and reach out with a short e-mail, reminding them of an impending deadline or assignment requirement, and include an offer of assistance.
Provide substantive feedback and positive critique. Although students might require corrective criticism, we can always provide encouraging comments.
Inject some fun into the classroom. Put a face to your introduction with a fun photo or video clip. Move beyond posting mundane content. Lighten up! We are not drill sergeants. Learn the value of adding a bit of humor. The Internet is a valuable source for free animated graphics, cool photos, and course related, yet motivating links and videos. Better yet, learn to embed your own video content.
Topics that will be explored in this portion
Distance Learning Theory
For 175 years the idea of learning away from a traditional school building has driven people to change the way they think and talk about learning. Traditional learning theory states fall into 4 categories; behavioralism, cognitivism, constructivism, transformative learning. There are other categories, but these are traditionally the most popular. While these theories can work with distance learners, distance learning presents a different set of challenges not present in traditional schools.
The New London Group (2000) created the following model for the new literacies of online learning.
Distance education is not just throwing an educator on a computer or video screen to teach the same content they would teach in front of a classroom. Distance learning, and more importantly online learning, is a new avenue for learning that is multimodal. Distance and online learning loses one critical piece of learning and that is the social aspect of learning. This is combated in online courses through the use of social media like tools (communities and forums) and in some cases digital group meet-ups using webcams and phone conferences
In their text E-learning Theory and Practice, Haythornthwaite and Andrews (2011) tasks facilitators to move beyond the literacies of learning (commonly used to talk about reading and writing) to the concept of discourse. Haythornthwaite and Andrews (2011) defines the term discourse as "useful because it refers to a wider range of communicative codes or modes, including not only speech, listening, reading and writing, but also icons, still and moving images, gesture, movement, etc." When creating this course, we looked at the different modes of learning that are present in well designed online learning classrooms.
The following video provides some resources that you, as a future distance educator, can use when developing your classes. It address both the best practices of online learning as well as giving you insight to some of the tools you can use to create your learning environment beyond the learning management system within your school. The video is long but well worth looking at.
Engagement
The purpose of this video is to help you learn from facilitators who have been in your shoes. They were once new to online education and they have embraced the skills needed to make their faciliation good for everyone. After watching the video respond to the questions in the page discussion.
Faculty Focus (2013), an online magazine for educators, has identified six traits that Online educators should adopt in creating an engaging online classroom: